


This Time Around

by CaptainSummerDay



Series: AU In which I work for the production team [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant levels of Violence, Dark, F/M, Fanvid AU, Season 1 Spoilers, Season 2 Speculation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:27:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1659770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSummerDay/pseuds/CaptainSummerDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post Season One.<br/>AKA The Ward Identity </p>
<p>What makes a monster? Nature or nurture, it doesn't matter. What matters is if you can unmake one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Hole

**Author's Note:**

> I don't tend to use trigger warnings, however given the subject matters and themes I will give a warning that things often have to get worse before they get better. This starts out pretty dark and although I want to match the tone of the show as closely as possible and love all the characters, I'm not interested in easy answers to complicated issues. Please use your own judgement. The dark tag is there for a reason.
> 
> That said, I believe in Grant Ward and I believe in Coulson's team.

**Black Site Internment Facility.  
Codename: The Hole. Location: Classified**

Admitted for processing. 

**Detainee #47805**  
Grant Douglas Ward. Former Shield Specialist. Hydra Affiliate.

Status: Pending results.

Protocol to be followed at all times by order of the Director.

**\-----------08/08/14 ENTRY LOGGED------------**

  


Grant Ward was interned in the hole for over 400 days.  


For the first two weeks he was in special confinement as Coulson’s team processed him.  
Asked, then demanded, then tried to physically force the answers to their questions. 

They worked him over for fourteen days before they turned him over to the staff.  


Fourteen days before they left him.  


Left him in the hole. 

Every morning two trained agents would take him out of his cell into interrogation. Another two would follow, icers at the ready but he never fought. Never protested. 

Never spoke.  


400 days.

The doctors confirmed that his larynx had healed months ago. There was no medical reason for his silence. They’d brought in a psychologist who specialised in combat veterans. She’d exited the room after two hours and tossed their profile in the bin as she swept out of the facility.

She’d said not to call unless they were prepared to give her the real one.  


400 days of silence.

400 days of getting nowhere.  


He didn’t give them any trouble (save that one incident on May fourth, the report was in the system, filed as per protocol). Just sat in the chair and stared straight ahead as they asked their questions, used every technique in their training to get the answers that never came. They got a reaction though, when they’d asked what Raina had been doing in Athens, what she’d been after before it burned.  


When they turned up to escort Grant Ward out of his cell the next morning they found it empty.

They included everything in the report. Everything they’d learned for 400 days.  


It was less than a sheet of A4.  


400 days.


	2. Breaking Free

_Previously on The Ward Identity_

Exploit weakness. 

It was the first rule he was taught. They all did it to get what they want. Grant did it to complete his mission. No attachments. The target was the target. Follow orders no matter the price.

No weakness.

He’d been good. A specialist. He’d succeeded in his mission.

Exploit weakness.

He’d been weak. And she had done what Hacker’s do best and exploited that weakness. Burrowed herself so deep beneath the cover that she reached the man. And then he wanted and with want came hope and he realised if she exploited his weakness he wouldn’t break.

He would shatter.

They think he feels nothing. He feels everything. He accepts his weakness.

He will defeat his weakness.

He knew the routine by now. The procedures.

The protocol.

The first part was easy. Years of physical conditioning meant his heart rate had slowed by the time they entered the cell. The sweat from the push ups now cool and clammy on his skin. Eyes shut. Breathing shallow. Unresponsive.

They had him en route to medical five minutes after shift change. 

Pick cuffs. Palm chain. Maintain heart rate. 

Through doors, down corridor, left turn in three, two, one, second set of doors, leaving field of vision of camera in five, four, three, two, one.

First guard. Break wrist, grab gun, turn. Second. Elbow, block headshot. Pull wrist, slam forehead to gurney bar. Turn. Use gun barrel to disable remaining guard. Stop nurse by door.

Two correction officers down and medical staff neutralised. Gained staff access pass.

_Mission time: 00:01.37. Time until Alarm Triggered:00:07:00 Time to Checkpoint: 4 minutes 30._

Run.

Corridor. Second left. Duck under window and take control room.

_Mission time: 00:06:49. Alarm threat neutralised. Time until Foot Patrols: Estimate 5 minutes._

Hide guards in cupboard. Secure. Lock.

Check camera feed. Route clear. Guards maintaining standard patrol patterns.

_Mission time: 00:08:05. Revise Estimate of Discovery: 15 minutes. Time to Checkpoint:9 minutes 45._

Adopt stealth protocol. Disable monitors. Adjust correction uniform.

Maintain a steady pace.

Avoid eye contact with hostiles.

Right at the end of the corridor. Maintenance on the left. Double doors.

Swipe pass. Check blind spots. Room clear. Disable door panel.

_Mission time: 00:18:20 Discovery Imminent. Cleared Final Checkpoint. Time until breach of outside Perimeter: 5 minutes._

Access grate. Back wall, bottom left. Four Screws. Remove bottom two. Enter maintenance tunnel. Replace grate.

Crawl. 

Perimeter 800 metres. 

No Alarm.

_Escape successful. Next Objective. Nearest Population Centre. 6k SSE._

Run.


	3. Spirals

**_Previously on The Ward Identity_ **

Phil was six when he decided he wanted to fight for the Good Guys. Good Guys like Steve Rogers and The Howling Commandos. Like a knight riding out to face the dragon, Captain America and his team had marched right up to Hydra and severed the head.

Defeated the Red Skull.

Phil had grown up on the Story of Shield. Heroes made flesh. Like the mythical figures of old, waiting silent in the shadows to protect from the monsters that lurked there. To save those who strayed into dark places.

He could feel their watchful gaze now, although it was just a painted replica. In the corners of his room he could feel them watching. Watching as he stared unblinking at the flaws in the plaster of the ceiling.

Ward had escaped custody. The report speculated as to when but there was nothing concrete on which to base their search. He was a ghost.

A shadow.

Agent Grant Ward had always been good at making people disappear. No database entries. Deleted from every system bar one.

They'd given him everything he needed and he'd disappeared.

Sometimes Phil wonders if he has disappeared.

_He can feel the tremors start to build along his body._

There was nothing they could do. Shield was still in the process of pulling itself together after Hydra had almost torn it apart. May, Fitzsimmons, Skye. His team was still bleeding.

He could see it in their faces.

_At approx 22:05 Control Room staff discovered incapacitated. Monitors disabled. Three more staff members found in Medical. Detainee #47805 missing from cell._

_Breach of maintenance access tunnels discovered at 04:58. No other signs of Detainee._

Grant Ward had been a shadow.

He'd tell May in the morning. See if she felt it wise to share with the team.

He was so tired of secrets.

_He can't shake the feeling of scraping from his skin._

He just wanted some rest.

_He can feel the vibrations in his memories._

_Safe from the shadows._

**Later/when the _blade_ drops from his fingers and he's left staring at the _Spirals_ /he'll turn and go to her _room_ and stand by her _door_ /raise his hand/stopping before he reaches out as he remembers motions that were never his/interconnecting lines and circles/ _Spirals_ in the shadows**

Director Coulson stared down at the storage room lock.

_"Coulson's fine. Still getting used to Director"_

It wouldn't stop any of them.

Any member of his team was capable of breaking through it in a matter of moments.

He'd tell Melinda.

Agent May could always be counted on.

Later though.

First they had to assess the threat from detainee #47805. The report had acknowledged two minor security glitches the previous night which initially had been written off as the result of a burnt out processor.

In hindsight, the behaviour of #47805 suggested that Grant Ward had received a visitor.

A visitor that managed to slip past every security system they had.

Skye would have to take a look at it. Do whatever it was she did with back chatter and feeds.

Find the exploit.

If Grant Ward was a part of whatever scheme Raina and the other Hydra agents currently burning their way through Europe were pursuing, they had more important things to focus on.

He'd restacked the boxes and moved one of the shelving units.

But he kept the door locked. Koenig had already written the room off anyway with no question when he asked.

None of his team had reason to go in there.

Coulson would brief them in the morning.

See if they could find any trace of the mysterious visitor or a connection to Hydra as they closed the breach.

He could speak to Nikki at the Paris hub while his team assessed The Hole. Find out what was happening in Europe. See if there was a connection.

Find the link.

_Interconnecting lines and circles._

He just wished he could rest.


	4. The Cavalry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if the video doesn't play for you. Youtube has warned me it won't be accessible from some countries.

**_Previously on The Ward Identity_ **

May felt her body slide into the familiar rhythms and patterns, the blows coming with the ease of experience. Coulson had called her into his office twenty minutes ago to share the report.

They’d agreed to brief the team once they arrived at the hole. Pre-flight checks had taken no time and so May was left with time to kill while she waited for the others to make their way onto the bus. She still had a good thirty minutes until they were in the air.

Four hours until they reached their destination.

And she was punching things like a first year at the Academy.

She’d had over a year to come to terms with the enormity of the mistake she made with Ward. Despite her training, she’d fallen for the socially awkward yet charming mask he wore as he’d wormed his way into the team.

Into her trust.

May knew rage. She knew violence. It came with being a specialist. It was the reason so few made it through the training. The necessary ability to leave your emotions behind on the battlefield. Find a way to control when and what you could feel or the job would kill you.

And it almost had. Quite literally.

She was only meant to be there to fly the damned plane. The Cavalry had all but been officially retired from the game of war. The game was meant to be won. But as always the enemy changed the rules again and there’s a reason there will always be a need to send in the Cavalry.

_Channel the rage._

Over a year and she could still feel the sting. The metaphorical knife that slid between her shoulder blades. The fire that had burned through her as she took Ward off the playing field.

_Mine the anger._

May suspected that they all knew, deep down, that sooner or later Ward would either lie down and die, or find a way to crawl out of his hole.

He couldn’t dig it any deeper.

_Spin, roundhouse kick, kick off the rebound, land, flip, hook, slam._

It didn’t matter. Never offer your back to the enemy. Life rarely offered second chances to learn from that mistake.

May was not about to repeat it.

Sooner or later they’d catch up to Flowers. When they did, either Ward was there or he wasn’t. It made no difference. They’d hurt her. Hurt her team. Hurt so many innocent lives. Cut the head off Hydra and two will rise.

Fine. 

Then May would gut the beast instead. Remove the Queen and capture the King. Checkmate.

Nail Hydra.

Target down.


End file.
